


Raise up cups of Christmas cheer

by disjointed_scribblings



Series: the whole mix tape [7]
Category: Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Family, Family Dynamics, Fluff, Multi, Post-Canon, Siblings, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, tbh relationship to canon is tenuous at this point
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:00:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28162056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/disjointed_scribblings/pseuds/disjointed_scribblings
Summary: Snapshots of Christmas at Longbourn Dairy Farm.
Relationships: Elizabeth Bennet/Fitzwilliam Darcy, Jane Bennet/Charles Bingley, Kitty Bennet/Original Male Character(s)
Series: the whole mix tape [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1857073
Comments: 28
Kudos: 70





	1. Winter Solstice (John)

**Author's Note:**

> This... will probably not make sense without reading others in the series. 
> 
> A few short bits of fluff brought to you by seeing too many ads for Hallmark Christmas movies.
> 
> Title from Christmas Wrapping by The Waitresses

John Bennet always found it hard to get out of bed and out to the barn on the shortest day of the year. But he found it even more so this year, when his bed was occupied by the man he loved.

Chuck was sprawled on his stomach, fast asleep. The alarm had caused a sleepy grunt, and when John leaned over to drop a kiss on the back of his neck Chuck sighed and tried to snuggle deeper into the mattress.

He'd been here for almost a week, and John still felt blessed to wake up with him every morning.

There were a lot of things about working at a university that puzzled John, but the strangest so far seemed to be the schedule. Cows had to be milked and fed twice a day, every day, no matter what else the human world had going on. Of course there were seasons to the farm--growing the alfalfa for the feed in the summer and harvesting it in the fall; checking the cows' nutrition carefully over the winter; calving in the spring. But that rhythm had nothing on the ebbs and flows of work at the university. For one thing, the whole university closed for a week and a half over Christmas. For another thing, according to Chuck, no one scheduled meetings after the first week of December except under pain of deadline, so as soon as his final class had sat their exam he'd been free to come and spend an entire three-week stretch in Meryton.

It was cold outside of bed and away from Chuck's body heat. John pulled on his long underwear and work clothes as quickly as possible before tiptoeing out of the room and down to the kitchen. Mary had already made the coffee, thank God, and was fixing a cup for Dad when John came down. She gave John an amused look when he yawned waiting for his turn to pour.

"Did the boyfriend keep you up?"

Dad made a gruff noise behind them, the only sign he'd give that he was uncomfortable with that subject.

The first weekend Chuck had come to stay, John had felt supremely awkward about the sleeping arrangements. When Kitty had started dating Dan, Mom had insisted that if Dan ever stayed over, he had to sleep on the couch--unless or until they got married. Maybe it was because Dan lived in town so there were only a limited number of reasons he might stay over--maybe it was the push Kitty needed to move out of the farmhouse and into the apartment above the cafe. Regardless, it set a precedent, and none of them had had a significant other stay the night.

When Chuck had been in Meryton over the summer, John had sometimes gone over to stay at his cabin when he wasn't on milking duty in the morning, but he'd never stayed at the Bennets'. But maybe it was because he was more than a decade older than Kitty had been, or maybe a visitor from out of town was different. Mom hadn't made any noises about setting up the guest room -- aka Kitty and Lydia's old room -- and no one had said anything when John had taken Chuck's bag into his bedroom. But still. He had barely been able to sleep that first night, and certainly hadn't gotten up to any interesting activities. By the third weekend, he'd relaxed.

So while John could now take this kind of ribbing, didn't mean he wanted to in front of his parents.

"Hard to wake up when it feels like the middle of the night out there," he said instead.

Mary gave him a suggestive look but said, "Sure." 

It was pitch black when they left the house, and the sun was just peeking over the horizon as they finished their morning chores and trudged back. The air was crisp and fresh, not yet the cold they'd see in January and February. Although in February there would be more light. Tough tradeoff.

Chuck was up by the time John went back inside, drinking coffee and eating hot cross buns with Mom while a Property Brothers rerun played in the background.

Something in John's heart swelled at the sight. He'd apologized for his mother many times in his life; the most recent, when he'd apologized to Chuck for her intrusive questions about his career and family, Chuck had laughed and said, "Your mom's a bit intense, but I like her. Strong chaos energy."

Chuck looked up from his coffee and smiled. Even after months together, that smile still made John's heart skip a beat. "Hey, you're done in the barn! Does this mean we get to go out Christmas Tree hunting?"

"It's not hunting." John claimed the open space on the sofa, between his mother and his boyfriend, and stole the last bite of Chuck's hot cross bun. "We're just going to cut down a tree."

Chuck waved this off. "It feels like hunting. You have to get all dressed up, go out into the bush, use a weapon, pick off your prey. Still, I'm excited. I've never had a real Christmas tree before!"

"Never?" Mom looked away from the tv at this, an impressive feat considering the tv was currently full of attractive men demolishing an outdated bathroom with sledgehammers.

"We always had an artificial tree growing up. And in my apartment I only have room for a little tabletop one." 

Mom shook her head at this. "Now that is a tragedy. I know I always worry about the fire hazard part -- " and she did, loudly, every single year, until she and Dad got into a fight about how soon to take the lights off -- "but there's nothing like that fresh pine smell at Christmas."

Chuck had tucked himself under John's arm while she was talking, and now gave his knee a quick squeeze. "I can't wait."

John tightened his arm around his boyfriend and thought that he could wait. He could live in this moment forever.

* * *

They found a good tree on the edge of their property, and had it back and mounted in the living room with plenty of time to spare before evening chores.

"Are you sure you don't mind spending Christmas with my family instead of yours?"

Chuck stopped and looked up from the strand of lights he was untangling. "You know I like spending time with your family. Besides, mine doesn't do much of a Christmas thing anymore."

"Next year--"

"No. My mother is on a Caribbean cruise with some of her friends, my dad is spending Christmas with his wife and her grandkids, Lisa is celebrating with her husband's family, and Carlie can figure her own stuff out. If we weren't doing this I'd probably be spending most of Christmas with Darcy--and she's coming anyway! We can talk about next year next year."

"Fair enough." He ducked down for a quick kiss, which turned out not to be so quick when Chuck dropped the string of lights to grab the collar of his shirt.

"Is there some invisible mistletoe over there?"

John broke away to frown at his sister. Mary only laughed. "Come on, sun's setting and the cows need to be milked and fed."

It was pitch black again by the time they finished, but the house was all lit up. In the family room, John found Mom and Chuck decorating the tree and singing along to old Christmas carols. He just stood there a moment, watching Chuck laugh at some silly joke Mom had made, and felt something inside himself settle.

"Oh, Johnny, if you're all done with the chores I'll get you some hot chocolate!" Mom ducked into the kitchen, and Chuck hung the ornament he'd been holding on the tree and came over for a kiss.

"Merry early Christmas," said Chuck, breathlessly.

"I love you."

And there was that breathtaking smile again.

_I am so lucky to love you_ , he thought.


	2. Christmas Eve Eve (Darcy)

"No. Absolutely not."

Darcy Fitzwilliam ignored her boyfriend's laugh and turned to look at her sister in the backseat.

"You're the one who said no Christmas carols."

"Yes, but I didn't think that Leo would turn this into a road trip singalong!"

"Come on, Georgie, the music is the best part of any road trip."

Georgie rolled her eyes, looking more like a teenager than the 21-year-old she was. "When it's good music it is."

Leo laughed and tried again. "Okay, fine, not Highway to Hell. How about-- Nobody gonna take my car, I'm gonna race it to the ground..."

"No!"

"We could try some more classic songs," Darcy suggested. "Hit the Road, Jack."

She and Leo managed to get through the chorus for that one twice before they both realized they didn't know any of the other words.

"Okay, okay." Leo reverted back to rock and roll. "I can't drive.... fifty-five!"

"God," said Georgie. "I know you guys are, like, elder millennials or whatever, but these songs are all too old even for you."

"Lots of country songs about long car trips," Leo suggested.

"Not that!"

"Trips other than cars," Darcy suggested. "There's: I would walk five hundred miles and I would walk five hundred more..."

Leo joined in and they both cackled at Georgie's fake wail of despair in the backseat. Despite her protests, she seemed genuinely thrilled to be on this trip, to spend a messy Christmas with Leo's big noisy family instead of a sterile one with Aunt Kit and a half-hearted dinner with Chuck and his sister.

Leo had only moved to Lambton and in with Darcy two months before, and already it felt like he'd alway been part of their little family.

"Well, fine," said Leo. "What songs about driving and/or long trips do you suggest?"

Georgie thought for a minute. "There's that one Taylor Swift song about a getaway car?"

"There's--what's that one. I like where you are when we drive in your car..."

Both Darcy and Leo sang the bits they could remember, while Georgie shook her head. "I've never heard that one."

Really?

"How could you not--" she paused, trying to remember how old her sister would have been when that song was playing every time she turned around. "Well. Now I just feel ancient."

Leo was tapping his thumbs on the steering wheel again. "Life is a highway, I wanna ride it all night long..."

Darcy joined in and provided air guitar accompaniment. 

"You guys are so weird," Georgie muttered.

"Shut up and drive," Darcy put in suddenly.

"Yes, exactly!"

"No, the Rihanna song," Darcy said, and surprised herself by remembering almost all the words. Leo bopped his head and tapped his thumbs on the wheel along with her singing, and even Georgie didn't complain.

"That wasn't awful," her sister acknowledged.

"Oh, I know," Leo said, and launched into the opening bars of Born to be Wild. "Get your motor running, head out on the highway..."

"You can't take your hands off the steering wheel to play air guitar!" But Georgie was laughing as she said it. "God, you're such a _Dad_. How about ... You got a fast car..."

By the time they pulled into a service centre for a bathroom and coffee break, they'd gone through and either sung or rejected all the songs they could remember about driving or highways.

As was the way of the world when it comes to public washrooms, the women's took longer. Darcy emerged to find Leo was already done and waiting in line at Starbucks. So she went to the much faster-moving line at Tim Horton's, and they finished at about the same time and met in the middle to exchange cups.

"Thank you," she sighed, breathing in the scent of Starbucks Caffe Verona. It was as good as she was going to get in a service centre off the highway.

Leo looked dubiously at his cup. "You got the dark roast this time, right?"

"Yes. I have learned my lesson about the differences in the varieties of swill they like to pass off as coffee."

Leo grinned. "The Tim's dark roast is almost as good as McDonald's coffee."

Darcy stared at the man she, regrettably, loved. "You're lucky you're cute."

"Cheap date, too." At Darcy's raised eyebrow, he grinned. "Come on. You know you love me." 

"I do. God knows why." 

His laugh followed her as she went back out into the cold. 

Outside, Georgie hurried over from where she'd been petting another traveller's dog, grabbed the box of Timbits from Darcy's hand, and ran back to the truck. "It's cold out here!"

"Use a napkin if you're going to eat those in the car!" Darcy called after her.

"Eh," said Leo, remote-unlocking the truck for her. "Those seats have seen worse." 

The owner of the dog Georgie had been petting laughed and held Georgie's forgotten gloves out to Leo. "Here, I think your daughter dropped these." 

Leo blinked. "Uh, thanks, man."

"It's nice to see that Georgie is enjoying this trip," Darcy said, watching her sister scramble up into Leo's truck, Timbits in hand. 

"Yeah. Do you get that a lot?" he asked as they crossed the parking lot.

"What, people thinking Georgie's my daughter? Sometimes. Used to happen more. In my twenties people always mistook me for being a few years older than I actually was, and for a long time Georgie came across as younger than she was."

At the back of the truck, Leo stopped and turned to look at her.

"Does it bother you?"

Darcy shrugged and took another sip of coffee. "The first couple times, maybe. Mostly because it reminded us both that our mother was gone. But people make stranger assumptions all the time, and I was her legal guardian and in most ways acting in loco parentis. It's a logical thing to think."

"Do you... want that?"

"Yes, every woman's dream, to be mistaken for the mother of her younger sister."

"No, I mean--like, kids."

"Oh." They'd never, she realized now, talked about this. It wasn't something she thought about much, even though she was about to turn 35 and her targeted ads online had recently become aggressively baby- and fertility-related (presumably to send her the message that her uterus was about to shrivel up into a dry husk). "Do you?"

Leo shrugged. "Not... really? Like I'm not against kids, but I don't have a burning desire to have one around all the time?"

Darcy slumped against the side of the truck in relief. "Okay."

"Okay, like..."

"Okay, like good, because I mostly raised Georgie and I don't really want to do it again."

"Well." Leo's smile overtook his whole face. "I'm glad that we're on the same page. Although, just so you know, my mother is desperate for grandkids, so she'll probably say something over Christmas."

"Thanks for the warning."

His kiss tasted of coffee and laughter, and she wanted to lean into it and absorb all his warmth into herself. 

"Do you guys need to make out some more, or can we hit the road again?"

Darcy pulled back and frowned at her sister. "We're just stretching our legs."

Leo passed her the keys. "Your shift."

Georgie's eyes widened. "You're letting Darcy drive?"

"I am a perfectly adequate driver."

"Of this thing?"

"I've been showing her the ropes," said Leo. "Don't stall out on the highway."

She glared at him, ignoring his laugh as she climbed into the driver's seat.

"Now," she said, once they were on the highway again and up at speed and she didn't have to think about the gear shifting for a bit. "I think I was promised a sing-along?"

Leo snapped his fingers. "How could we possibly forget? Baby you can drive my car..."

"God, you know what else we forgot? Tramps like us, baby we were born to run..."

"Oh, no," said Georgie, and Leo laughed, and it really was the most wonderful time of the year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MUSIC!  
> highway to hell - acdc  
> highway star - deep purple  
> hit the road jack - ray charles  
> i can’t drive 55 - sammy hagar  
> I’m gonna be (500 miles) - the proclaimers  
> getaway car - taylor swift  
> here (in your arms) - hellogoodbye  
> life is a highway - tom cochrane  
> shut up and drive - rihanna  
> born to be wild - steppenwolf  
> fast car - tracy chapman  
> baby you can drive my car - the beatles  
> born to run - bruce springsteen


	3. Christmas Eve (Kitty)

"Most wonderful time of the year, my ass." 

Kitty locked the cafe door on the last of the customers ten minutes after the officially posted closing time of 4pm. It was already dark outside, and she was just about at the end of her rope. The reindeer antlers she was wearing were pinching her head, the jingle bell earrings that had looked so cute in the mirror this morning annoyed the hell out of her by jingling loudly every time she moved, and her sparkly Christmas shoes didn't have enough arch support to withstand ten hours on her feet. Not to mention, she'd broken a nail, right down to the quick, and it both hurt and ruined her festive red and gold manicure. The holiday drinks she'd convinced Uncle Phil to put on the menu this year, which had smelled so delightful at the beginning of the month, had started to make her queasy, and if she never heard that stupid Do They Know it's Christmas song again it would be too soon. 

And so, overall, she really wanted to go upstairs to her apartment and collapse. 

"You ready to head out?" 

Unfortunately, Kitty was not in the habit of getting what she wanted. 

She forced a smile. "Just give me ten minutes. I want to go upstairs and get changed." 

Dan nodded and turned back to his phone. He didn't even make a move to stand, or give any other sign that he expected to come up to her apartment with her. Or that he might have liked to be invited. 

Well, why should she expect any different? 

The apartment above the cafe had been feeling lonely since her sister Lydia had moved out, so Kitty had decided that if she and Dan made it through two straight months without splitting up she'd invite him to move in with her. 

That had been six months ago. They still hadn't managed it. 

Kitty tossed the too-tight reindeer antlers on her bed and groaned out loud. "And now I have to spend all night tonight and all day tomorrow listening to my mother talk very obviously about weddings and her friends' grandbabies." 

She knew what her mother would say, if Kitty ever brought up her ambivalent feelings about Dan. She'd say that Kitty's expectations were too high. Probably from reading all those romance novels. That Dan was a good man, which was true, who treated her well, which was also true, and what more could Kitty want? 

What Kitty wanted was a man who was madly in love with her. But, again, Kitty wasn't in the habit of getting what she wanted. 

Despite her mother's opinion, Kitty knew that romance novels were fictional. She was not actually expecting one of those heroes to come to life and sweep her off her feet. All the same, maybe she'd been reading too many lately. Time to switch to something else. True crime, maybe, to remind herself how lucky she was that Dan would probably never try to murder her. 

Dan was waiting at the bottom of the stairs once she'd changed, and helped her into her coat without her even asking. _See_ , she could imagine her mother saying. _A gentleman._

And Kitty did appreciate it. She did. She'd just appreciate it more if it felt less like duty, or obligation. 

Once they were in Dan's beat-up old truck and headed out to the farm, he cleared his throat. "My Aunt Vera called today." 

Oh, God. She'd forgotten all about Aunt Vera. "Oh?" 

"She was checking to make sure we're still coming on Boxing Day." 

Meaning: she was checking in to see if Dan would be coming alone, or if Kitty would be accompanying him. 

Kitty wanted nothing more than to skip dinner at Vera's on Boxing Day. Vera had never liked her, and the feeling was mutual. Things had only gotten more tense the one Christmas she'd dumped Dan on December 22nd and only gotten back together on New Year's Eve. 

"Well, of course we're still coming," said Kitty. As much as she didn't like Vera, the old woman was, for all intents and purposes, Dan's only family. 

"Hm," said Dan. "You'll be happy to know she's not making her beet casserole this year, anyway. I know you hate it. She says she can't manage it with her crutches." 

"She's on crutches?" 

"Yeah. I didn't tell you? She slipped and broke her ankle in November. I went and stayed with her for a few days." A pause. "It was while we were fighting." 

Ah. And that was the other thing. Whenever she broke up with him, he acted like it was just a given they'd get back together. Like they were just having a fight. Almost like he didn't believe her when she said she was done. 

The thing was, she always meant it when she said it, even if she always changed her mind later. 

"No, you didn't tell me. I hope she's doing better."

"Hm." 

The old farmhouse was all lit up when they arrived. Dan headed straight to the barn to help out with the evening chores, which was a relief. Kitty let herself into the kitchen and accepted a hug from her oldest brother's boyfriend (and, let's be honest, her future brother-in-law). 

"There you are! Heard you pull up. Here, we're having rye and gingers." 

Kitty grabbed the glass gratefully and took a long gulp, letting the sugar and ginger and rye whiskey settle her stomach and her mood. "God, I needed that." 

Chuck laughed. "Long day at the cafe?" 

"You have no idea. Hey, Darcy." 

On the other side of the counter, her other brother's girlfriend just nodded, not taking her concentration away from slicing very precise crosses into the tops of the chestnuts. 

"We were just talking about holiday traditions," Chuck said, and Kitty let herself be drawn into the conversation. 

The house would fill up later, when the others came in from the barn, when Aunt Grace and Eddie and Uncle Phil and some old family friends came over, but for now it was nice to sit in the warm kitchen with a cold drink and watch someone else work. 

"You weren't going to come say hello?"

Oh, God, her mother. Kitty stood up for a hug. 

"Merry Christmas, Mom! I needed a drink after the day at the cafe." 

"I see. And what are you three talking about, with your heads all together here, hmm?" 

Oh, no. 

But her mother couldn't be stopped. "Wedding bells? Or--" her eyes flicked between Kitty and Darcy -- "maybe baby booties?" 

"Cheryl--" Chuck started, always ready to diffuse a situation. 

"Oh yeah," Kitty said, her shitty mood coming right back. "Definitely dreaming of raising a baby in the apartment above the cafe. That's why I'm hitting the hard liquor." 

"Katharine -- "

Seeing her mother's eyes narrow, she regretted the sarcasm. "Did I just hear Mary coming in from the barn?" she deflected. "You know she's single _on purpose_? That's definitely something you should talk to her about." 

With a very _mother_ kind of unconvinced look, her mother left, and Kitty let out a heartfelt sigh and finished the end of her drink. 

"Wow," Darcy muttered. "Leo warned me, but that was... more direct than I expected." 

Chuck laughed. "Cheryl sure is something." 

Apparently Mary really had been coming in earlier, because their men entered the kitchen then--Leo drawn to Darcy like a magnet, John's eyes catching Chuck's from across the room and sticking, and Dan--well, Dan was there. 

Watching her brothers, she wondered. Were her expectations really so high? Was it really so selfish to want a man to touch her the way Leo touched Darcy, to look at her the way John looked at Chuck? 

She didn't see Dan moving toward her until he put a new drink in her hand. Apparently he'd noticed she was empty. Thoughtful of him. She really was a bad girlfriend. 

"Thanks," she said, with a smile brighter than she felt. 

Could Dan tell she was feeling off? Who knew. He just nodded and moved into the family room to sit with her dad. 

The drink he'd made her wasn't quite right, not enough rye which made the ginger ale taste overly sweet. She drank it anyway as the house continued to fill up, as Darcy finished with the chestnuts and somehow managed to put them in the oven without dislodging Leo's hand on her back. They were the kind of couple who couldn't be in the same room without touching, which might be cute if it wasn't so gross. 

Suddenly wanting some quiet, Kitty set her glass down. "I'm going to light the fire in the living room." 

No one heard. 

She made her way to the formal living room in the front of the house--not used very much, other than at Christmas. Later this evening, they'd gather around the piano eating chestnuts and singing along while Mary played Christmas carols. But for now, the room was cold and empty and dark. 

No, not empty, and not dark, Kitty corrected herself. Lydia had already started the fire and was huddled at the end of the couch, watching the flames. Feeling suddenly morose, Kitty sat down and rested her head on her sister's shoulder. 

"Hey." 

"Hey." 

"Too much Christmas cheer for you?" Kitty asked. 

"Too used to living by myself now, I guess." 

"Do you get lonely up there?" 

Lydia shrugged. "I get by. Where's Dan at?" 

Kitty shrugged right back. They were sisters, but she wasn't about to admit to a vulnerability when Lydia hadn't. "Sitting with Dad, I think." 

The flames were hypnotic. Kitty wasn't sure how long she'd been watching them dance when a sound at the door made her look up. Mary was coming in with a tray of mugs. 

"Thanks for siccing Mom on me." But she didn't sound too mad, and anyway she'd brought them the fancy gourmet hot chocolate they saved for special occasions. 

"It was self-defense!" Kitty exclaimed. "Besides, I was trying to make sure she didn't scare off Darcy. If she doesn't take pity on Leo, I don't know who will." 

Lydia snorted into her mug. 

Mary sat down on Kitty's other side and sighed. "Oh, this is good. Did you know that originally chocolate was only available as a drink because they couldn't work out how to make it solid? I was listening to a podcast--"

"Shut up, Mary," said Lydia and Kitty simultaneously, and she did, snuggling in against them. 

From the kitchen drifted soft laughter and the smell of chestnuts, while distantly in the living room Aunt Grace had taken her guitar out and Leo was singing rock and roll Christmas songs, but here, there was just the crackling of the fire, the bittersweet hot chocolate, and the warmth of her sisters on either side. 

Maybe there was something to this peace on earth and goodwill to men thing, after all.


	4. Christmas Day (Chuck)

Chuck's deep slumber was interrupted by a kiss pressed into his shoulder, a whisper in his ear. 

"Merry Christmas, sleepyhead." 

"Love you too," he mumbled muzzily into the pillow, and tumbled back into sleep with a warm hand stroking his hair. 

He awoke, for real, a couple hours later when his text notification went off three times in a row. Blearily, he reached for his phone and saw that it was almost 7am. 

All three texts were from Darcy. 

DARCY

> Help. Do I get dressed or are the Bennets a pyjamas on Christmas morning kind of family?

> Are you even awake yet?
> 
> Wait, Georgie's already downstairs and she says pyjamas.

> CHUCK

> Why are you texting me from down the hall
> 
> Def pjs
> 
> The bennets are that kind of family
> 
> I bet the guys change back into pjs after they come in from the barn

DARCY

> Not taking that bet.
> 
> Okay, going down. Wish me luck.

Well, he shouldn't abandon his best friend to Cheryl's tender mercies. And plus something was starting to smell really good. Chuck rolled out of bed, pulled on his slippers and John's robe, and ran a hand through his hair to flatten the worst of the bedhead. 

Chuck followed his nose to the kitchen, where the women of the Bennet family were clattering around getting breakfast together. The sound brought back distant childhood memories, and he paused just outside the kitchen to send a quick Merry Christmas message to his own family. Carlie probably wouldn't be up yet, Mom had uneven reception on her cruise ship, and who knew when Dad would remember to check his phone, but Lisa's kids would no doubt have awakened her at some ridiculous hour. 

Sure enough, he opened Instagram to see that Lisa had posted a beautiful photo of the family in front of the Christmas tree. Her tree looked like something out of a magazine, perfectly and gorgeously decorated. The children were immaculately groomed, and the whole family wore matching Christmas onesies. Lisa's mother-in-law must have snapped the picture, because right peeking out from just behind the tree Chuck could see her father-in-law in full Santa getup. 

Chuck liked the picture and commented with a string of Christmas tree and Santa emojis, then scrolled down. Right below it his mother had posted--just half an hour ago--a picture of the festive breakfast buffet on her cruise ship. "My kind of Christmas morning!!" she'd captioned the photo, with a tropical cocktail emoji for good measure. Carlie had already liked the post, so apparently she was awake after all. 

So this was the new Bingley Christmas tradition, was it? Christmas morning Instagram likes? 

The melancholy that washed over him was unexpected. What did he have to be melancholy about? They hadn't even tried to do Christmas morning as a family since Chuck was an undergrad, the first year after his parents had split up, when everything had been awkward and weird. By the next year Dad had gotten engaged again and they'd done two separate Christmases, one with each parent. And then the year after that things had started to get serious between Lisa and Hurst so she'd spent Christmas with his family, Dad had spent Christmas with his new wife, and Chuck and Carlie had gone to Mom's for a more subdued Christmas dinner. After that Mom had always travelled at Christmas, and Chuck and Carlie both tended to crash their friends' or boyfriends' celebrations where they could or spend Christmas with each other when there weren't other options. 

It had been--god, close to a decade now, since the last time he'd spent Christmas morning actually opening presents with a family, instead of alone in his apartment texting Darcy or Carlie about what time he should show up for Christmas dinner. 

"Looks like someone's finally up!" 

Chuck welcomed the interruption to his melancholy thoughts. Christmas was a day for happiness, after all! He smiled at Cheryl, decked out in a garish Christmas cardigan over an even more garish flannel Christmas nightgown, as she scooted over to kiss him on the cheek. 

"Merry Christmas, sweetie. You want some Bailey's in your coffee? Or maybe a Caesar?" 

He had to laugh. "At seven in the morning? Cheryl!" 

"What! It's Christmas!" 

Couldn't argue with that. "Alright, I'll go for some Christmas cheer. Coffee and Bailey's then." 

"You heard him, honey," she called over her shoulder, and Chuck peeked around her into the organized chaos of Christmas morning. The kitchen was full of women--Mary was apparently manning two coffee pots at once, Kitty was pulling a tray of cinnamon rolls from the oven, Aunt Grace Gardiner was slicing fruit, and even Georgie was busy folding napkins. 

Darcy appeared from the coffee area and handed him a mug. "Merry Christmas." 

"Merry Christmas, Darce." He patted her shoulder affectionately. 

"Of course," said Cheryl, in a tone of voice that made Darcy stiffen, "Christmas is always better with children around. Don't you think? Maybe in a few years..." she gazed at them both significantly. 

And the thing was--yeah, Chuck could picture it. He could picture it very well. A couple of little tykes, running around in the Christmas morning chaos, tugging on Cheryl's arm and begging for hot chocolate, casting desperate glances toward the presents under the tree, lying in wait to pounce on John when he came in from the barn and they were finally allowed at their stockings. 

But that was jumping the gun a bit. He and John weren't even in the same place most of the time, right now, and they'd decided it wouldn't make sense to get married unless and until that was all sorted out. Chuck had to get through one more semester teaching classes at Pemberley University, and then next summer he'd start a one-year sabbatical, which obviously he would spend here in Meryton continuing his research into the G. sabrinus population he'd been tracking. And at the end of that year, he was going to have to either find a job he could do remotely, or have the serious financial discussion with John about whether it was feasible for him to quit the university entirely and become an independent researcher... 

Fortunately his thoughts were cut off before they got too far down the track of what would happen a year and a half from now, because there was a ruckus out in the garage and then the men came in from the barn, bound straight for the coffee station. 

John was the last one in. His cheeks were pink from the cold, and he looked relaxed and... happy. He was a reserved man, and even after all these months Chuck couldn't always read his moods. But today, maybe because it was Christmas, or maybe because they'd managed to spend so much quality time together lately, John's happiness was obvious to Chuck. 

Their gazes met across the room. Without breaking eye contact or his stride, John walked straight across to Chuck and pulled him, in one smooth motion, into his arms and into his kiss. 

John's lips were cold and a bit chapped, but his arms were warm and strong. His face was prickly--apparently he hadn't bothered to take the time to shave this morning--and he still smelled like the barn, and Chuck's knees, embarrassingly, went weak. He wrapped his arms around his boyfriend's neck, both for balance and because he so badly wanted to. 

"Hi," said John when he pulled back, eons or maybe just seconds later. 

Chuck smiled, feeling dazzled. "That was some move." 

"You sound surprised. I've got moves." John grinned. "Just need an excuse to demonstrate them." 

He pointed, and Chuck followed his finger up to see the mistletoe hanging right above them. 

"Sneaky," Chuck muttered. "I think your mother ambushed me here on purpose." 

John laughed. "That sounds like her. Merry Christmas." 

"Merry Christmas." 

* * *

Opening presents with the Bennet family was just like everything else with the Bennet family: noisy, drama-filled chaos. Halfway through the proceedings, Leo and Mary started throwing balled-up bits of wrapping paper at each other and things descended from there. It didn't end until each person in the room had at least one shiny bow stuck somewhere on their body. 

Chuck adored it. 

He didn't think he'd ever had so much fun on Christmas morning his entire life. Christmas mornings in the Bingley family had been much more orderly, with each person taking a turn opening a present and thanking the giver politely. But here--they'd managed to turn gift-giving into its own kind of entertainment, and everyone was having a blast (except maybe Darcy, who looked a bit overwhelmed). 

So he was almost sorry when Lydia finally yelled, "Last present under the tree!" and rolled across the floor with an envelope in her hand. 

It was addressed, jointly, to him and John. 

"Ooh," Chuck said from his position on the floor, leaning against John's legs. "What is it?" 

John used a pair of scissors to carefully slice the envelope open, and frowned at the piece of paper inside. "Is this a scavenger hunt?" 

"What?" 

John held the paper forward so Chuck could read it. It was a series of directions. 

"Oh, fun!" said Chuck. "We start at the Christmas tree..." 

The note had them start at the tree, count a given number of paces forward, left, forward, left again. Everyone else followed them, watching closely. John looked a bit embarrassed at the attention but Chuck felt giddy. Not only a joint gift, but one that someone had put a heck of a lot of effort into! 

With the entire family tagging along, they followed the directions down the hall, through the door to the basement, down the steps, and around the corner. 

"What--" John started, and stopped. 

Chuck had never been in the basement before, so he wasn't sure exactly what he was supposed to be picking up here, but he guessed the boxes of tile, the carpet samples, the paint cans, were probably new. 

Cheryl elbowed her husband, sharply. "Tom--"

"Alright, alright, you can put that away," he grumbled, pushing her elbow away from his ribs. "Ah--boys. Your mother and I have spent a long time wondering what we were going to do about the house, about the farm. Obviously, John, it's been a blessing to have both you and Mary living here and working here. But now that all our kids are grown up--"

"Not all," mumbled Leo, and Lydia poked him viciously. 

" _All_ of our kids are _adults_ , as I said," Tom continued, "Johnny, obviously you're going to inherit this house someday--" 

"Wait, why does _he_ automatically get the house?" Mary whined, and Kitty hissed, "Y _ou_ keep telling Mom you're never getting married, sounds like she's finally taking you seriously." 

"Ah yes," said Tom, "all of our very _mature_ and responsible adult children. Who have lives of their own. Which leads me to the point here. John, Chuck, I don't know what your plans are exactly for the future, but since you're starting to settle down, your mother and I wanted to give you this option--"

"We're renovating the basement," Cheryl broke in, clearly unable to contain her excitement any longer. "It's going to be a two-bedroom apartment. Full kitchen, laundry, separate entrance, everything. We can have it done by the time your research vacation or whatever it's called starts, Chuck. We figured it might be nice if the two of you lived down here, at least to start. And then, who knows, maybe when you have a family of your own you can move into the main house and your father and I can move down here--"

"Or maybe they can build their own house on the property someday," said Tom. "Slow down, Cheryl, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves when we don't know if they like this idea or not. Now, boys, this isn't an obligation, mind you, it's an offer." 

"Well, boys?" Cheryl clapped her hand together hopefully. "What do you think?" 

What did they think? Chuck didn't know what to think. His jaw was about to hit the floor. 

"It was my idea!" said Mary. "Unless you hate it, in which case it was Lydia's idea." 

"Hey!" 

A quick glance at John revealed a frozen, stunned facial expression, which was a sign that he needed a minute to process. Chuck dove in. 

"Tom--Cheryl--this is--wow." His eyes stung suspiciously. Was he about to cry? He clapped his hands to his face. "I don't know what to say. This is so -- You've welcomed me into your family--" 

"Oh, sweetie, of _course_ ," said Cheryl, "why do you think we've been watching so much HGTV lately?" Tom nodded--

And there it was. That was the key. For the whole holiday he'd felt like he was already part of the Bennet family. John's siblings had always been pretty warm and welcoming, and he'd managed to hit it off with Cheryl pretty early after he and John had started dating officially. But Tom had been a bit distant, stand-offish, and Chuck had wondered if he maybe still wasn't quite comfortable when confronted with his oldest son's sexuality. 

So for Tom to make this offer--

Chuck was definitely crying now. How embarrassing. But John's arm cam down around his shoulder and he felt himself being pulled into his boyfriend's solid body. 

"Mom, Dad." John's voice was hoarse. "This is... amazing. This is almost too much. I, we... thank you." 

Cheryl was crying too, so at least Chuck wasn't alone, and Tom was clearing his throat loudly, and the various siblings were cheering, and before Chuck knew it he was part of some kind of exuberant group hug. 

Well, he thought inconsequentially, as John wiped the tears from his cheeks, he was certainly never going to have to worry about being alone at Christmas ever again. 


	5. Boxing Day (Lydia)

Lydia was bored out of her mind. 

Ironically, she'd been looking forward to being at home for Christmas. A whole week where she'd be in a crowded house full of family and wouldn't have to be alone with her own thoughts! And yet, here she was. 

Part of it was her own fault, really. Mom and Aunt Grace had invited her to go shopping with them, but she hadn't felt like tackling the Boxing Day Sale crowds. She would have sucked it up if she'd known that everyone else in the house would be sitting around watching the World Junior Hockey Championships instead of doing anything, you know, fun. 

Not that Lydia objected to hockey, in its place. She'd watch the semi-finals when they got there. But the round robin? 

She used to enjoy it. She had very clear memories of sitting right here looking at all the cute, sweaty boys and thinking dirty, sweaty thoughts. But now she looked at the tv and all the 18-year-olds looked like, well, like babies. When had that happened? When had she started to get _old_? She was only 25. When she'd been 18, she'd flirted with 25-year-olds and they'd flirted back and she hadn't even begun to consider it creepy. Now she was reconsidering. Some of these teenagers looked like they hadn't quite hit puberty yet. What was _wrong_ with the men who'd hit on her when she was barely legal? 

Dad and John were both watching the game with their usual quiet concentration. Leo normally kept a running commentary of his own, but today he was distracted by Darcy, who was tucked up against his side somehow managing to read a book despite the distractions. Chuck, similarly, was half-watching and half-working on a sudoku. Mary, as per usual, was yelling regularly at the refs, the coaches, the players, and occasionally the sportscasters. 

God. Lydia had to get out of here. Maybe she'd been living on her own too long. 

She missed Kitty. She missed the cute little apartment above the cafe they'd shared. Even the nights Dan came over, he'd never seemed to mind being Kitty's silent shadow while the two sisters chatted and gossiped about their days. 

She missed gossip. 

But Kitty was off having a holiday dinner with Dan's aunt today. Ironically, Dan's aunt was one town over from where Lydia was currently living. It was only a two-hour drive. Maybe if Kitty actually liked Dan's aunt Lydia would see her more. 

Making friends as an adult was fucking hard. Apparently she wasn't the only one who felt that way, because there were like a million hits when she googled how to do it. There were lots of tips. The problem was that she didn't like any of them. Join a club? Uh, okay, what was she, a dork? Take a class? No thank you! She'd hated school. 

Her job was against her there, too. She often worked evenings and almost always worked weekends, so that other people could fit their haircuts around their 9-5 jobs. Besides, she was on her feet all day. The last thing she wanted to do at night was an "activity", with strangers. Ew. 

Mary had suggested that if she liked any of her clients enough, they might be interested in hanging out socially. But Lydia hadn't had any clients yet that she liked enough to leave off the customer service persona. She knew that she was the kind of person other people liked better in small doses. She'd been told enough times by boyfriends and hookups that she wasn't particularly pleasant to be around when she was herself. 

Kitty's suggestion was spending time where other people were already hanging out, like the local bar. Maybe Lydia could try that if she had one friend first. Going into a bar alone to hang out sounded pathetic. And also a little too much like how Lydia had made her last new friend, which had been a colossal mistake. 

The other reason she was feeling so lonely this Christmas: she hadn't realized how long or how strong the folks in Meryton would hold a grudge. 

"Are you serious?" Mary yelled at the tv. "Two minutes? That should have been a penalty shot!" 

Well, that was it. Lydia got up and went to make herself some more coffee. 

Except when she got to the kitchen, Darcy's sister Georgie was already there, hunched over her laptop at the kitchen table. Lydia hesitated for half a second before going over to the coffee pot. 

"Hey," she said, as breezily as she could. 

Jordana Wickham had told her about Georgie, during that period of time when Lydia had thought they were becoming friends. That friendship had mostly been built on gossip and shopping and pettiness and getting drunk on weeknights, and if Lydia was smart she'd have realized sooner that it was a shallow one. 

But she wasn't smart, and so here she was. 

"Hey," Georgie replied, moving her laptop so Lydia couldn't see the screen. 

How old was she? 20, 21? Right now she looked even younger than those kids playing hockey on tv. Lydia wondered how much Jordana had said about her was true, and how much was just calculated to make Jordana seem cool and Darcy seem like a bitch. 

"I was always close to her," Jordana had said. "Kind of like a mentor, almost a cool big sister, you know? Since god knows Darcy was never that interested in being a sister to her. But Darcy got jealous. Said I was taking advantage of how naive Georgie was. I mean, I admit, I think she had a bit of a crush on me." She'd shrugged there, as if to say, C _an't blame her, who wouldn't crush on this?_ "But it happens. I mean, she was just a kid. I'd never have used something like that against her. But Darcy said I couldn't see her anymore, and so I didn't." 

That was Darcy, all right, acting like a bitch so you hated her, and then saving you when you didn't even realize you needed saving so you felt guilty for hating her so much. 

"Not into hockey?" Lydia said now, because the coffee was still brewing and Georgie looked uncomfortable in the silence. 

"No, I'm--I don't mind hockey. I have some friends on the Pemberley team--the women's team--and I go to most of their home games. It's just a little intense in there." 

"Welcome to the Bennet family. It's always a little intense in here. You want some coffee?" 

Georgie nodded and Lydia took down a second mug. 

"Darcy says you're a hairstylist," Georgie said, awkwardly, while Lydia poured. 

"Yep." 

"Can I ask your opinion?" 

Lydia shrugged. "Go ahead. Milk? Sugar?" 

"Just milk, thanks. I want to do something more interesting with my hair, but I don't want to wreck my job prospects." 

"Why would interesting hair wreck your job prospects?" 

"I'm in business school. Studying accounting." Georgie took the offered cup and blew on it to cool it down, looking more like a high school student than an accountant-in-training. "It's pretty conservative, and I'm about to start my last semester so there's all these recruitment events." 

Lydia took a sip of her coffee and glanced over the straight, unlayered shoulder-length hair that looked like the most styling it had ever seen was a brush and maybe a ponytail holder. 

"Changing your hair could make you look a bit more, um--" she caught herself before saying _older_. "More professional?" 

Georgie nodded. "Yeah, but I was thinking, more, um... like, an undercut. And maybe some bright colourful stripes or something. Would that be unprofessional?" 

Oh, now _this_ was a different conversation. "I think an undercut would be cute on you," said Lydia, taking another sip of her coffee. Georgie still looked a bit embarrassed. "And not unprofessional. The colours, maybe too wild for a job interview in accounting. But you have to think about how everything works together into your image as a whole, you know? Say you're wearing, like, a nicely tailored suit. Very professional, right? If that suit is black or grey or some other traditional colour, and you have one bright colour in your hair, then that colour is your bit of personality. But if you're got an entire rainbow in your hair and your suit is purple or something--I mean, it would still be really cute but maybe not so good for an accounting firm." 

Georgie nodded slowly. "I wasn't thinking about it like that. That makes sense." 

"Undercuts need some maintenance." Lydia looked dubiously at Georgie's incredibly low-maintenance hair, which was boring but undoubtedly healthy, since it had probably never seen a hot styling tool in its life. "You up for that?" 

"Yes. Yes, I am. I used to... for a long time I wanted to look as forgettable as possible so no one would look at me. But then I didn't even want to look at me. So now that I'm getting close to graduating I've decided that I want to feel good looking at myself." 

"Well, that's... mature." And strong. Jordana had gotten to this girl when she was so young, and she was still probably stronger and more grown-up than Lydia was. 

Georgie smiled suddenly. "It really helps to talk it out. Thanks, Lydia. Do you want to see what I'm considering?" 

Well, it was definitely better than feeling sorry for herself. And it was nice to help someone else. 

Lydia brought herself, her mug, and the entire coffee pot over to the table to sit down at Georgie's side. "Sure. Show me." 


	6. New Year's Eve (Mary)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another day of primarily sibling feels! Back to our regularly scheduled romantic fluff in the next instalment.

"It's nice to have Leo home for a bit," Mary said, over the sound of her brother's very loud rendition of What Are You Doing New Year's Eve. 

John's smile was small but affectionate. "For sure." 

You had to know how to read them, her brothers. John was the strong and silent type, the still-waters-run-deep type. You had to pay close attention to his tone of voice, the tiny twitches of the muscles in his face that might suggest a frown or a smile. Leo, on the other hand, practically burst with emotion, but getting him to actually talk about his feelings was like pulling teeth. You could get a better read on him by finding out what music was on his mind. 

Mary wondered if her brothers' new partners had figured out any of these tricks yet. Probably. They were smart people. Both of her brothers had managed to move into very close and seemingly secure relationships in a pretty short period of time. 

It was weird. Mary knew that romantic love was real. The wanting it, the feeling it, the living with it. Falling in love was something that happened, and it sometimes made people do strange things. Mary knew this and accepted it. She also knew and accepted that it was not something she herself understood, or wanted. 

But even accepting that falling in love was a thing, it was still sort of baffling to watch it happen to people she knew so closely. To her own siblings. 

Well, her brothers, anyway. Mary had her doubts about the state of Kitty and Dan's romantic relationship. 

She'd borrowed some of Kitty's romance novels in the fall, while Leo had been packing up to move to Lambton with Darcy, and Chuck had been coming down to spend his weekends here with John, in the hopes that they'd help her understand a bit better. She thought they had. She'd enjoyed them much the way she enjoyed a psychological thriller or a murder mystery--interesting to think about what drove people, what motivated them, how they developed and changed, while she had absolutely no interest in any of it happening to herself. 

Also, she'd liked the sexy bits. She did understand sex, the wanting it, the feeling it, the having it. The bit where you had sex while setting the expectation of no romance was a bit tricky, at least in a small town with a limited number of options and a real possibility of being branded with a pejorative term by people who were afraid of women's sexuality. 

All that to say--Mary was very happy for her brothers and the love they'd found. She was just a bit, a very tiny bit, afraid of being left alone. 

"Why don't you go in?" she said now, to John. "We can finish up here." 

"You sure?" 

"Yeah, go ahead. Might as well take advantage of Leo's free labour, while we have it, to go spend some time with your lover." 

God. Lover? What was she even saying? She hadn't yet found a way talk about John and Chuck's glowingly romantic relationship without sounding awkward and weird. 

John didn't comment, though, just dropped a kiss on her temple. "Thanks, Mary. See you at dinner." 

And then he was off. 

It didn't take long, between Mary and Leo and Dan, to feed the herd and clean up. The night was already dark and the colourful lights of the house beckoned, and so it took Mary a second to notice when Dan split off in the direction of his truck. 

"You're not staying for dinner?" she called over to him. 

Dan turned back. "Ah, no. Had a big fight with Kitty the other day." 

Translation: Kitty had dumped him again. Was that happening more frequently or was it Mary's imagination? 

"Alright then. I guess I'll wish you a Happy New Year now." 

He nodded to acknowledge the sentiment and headed toward his truck. 

"What timing," Leo commented. Jeeze, Mary had forgotten he was right behind her. "Right after Christmas?" 

Here she'd just been thinking how nice it was to have him home, and he was back to his normal slightly judgmental self. "Technically, it's still Christmas. The twelve days of Christmas start counting from Christmas Day, which makes Boxing Day the second day of Christmas and today--" she did a quick math in her head-- "the seventh. Swans a-swimming and all that. But either way, don't judge Kitty. It can be a stressful time of year. And Mom's been getting on Kitty's case about weddings and babies. Not surprising she had a bit of a short temper." 

"Uh-huh." Leo slung an arm over her shoulder. "I have to say, I'm enjoying this Christmas a lot more knowing I'm leaving in a couple of days. It's nice to miss you all when I'm gone and then get to come visit and see you again. Turns out Mom gets on my nerves a lot less when I don't have to live with her every day." 

"I like missing you too. We should miss each other more. You sure you don't want to move to the other side of the Atlantic?" 

Leo laughed and pulled her in for a one-armed hug before ducking into the house, presumably in search of the girlfriend he was sickeningly infatuated with. Mary shook her head and followed more slowly. 

In the hall she ran into Kitty, who was just shrugging out of her coat. 

"Hey, how was the cafe today?" 

Kitty sighed. "Busy. So many people are in from out of town, and they all have to get together over a cup of coffee to catch up. I've been run off my feet." 

"I, uh, I heard you and Dan broke up." 

"Hm." Kitty rolled her neck back and forth. "Yeah. On the way back from his aunt's on Boxing Day. Pro tip, don't break up with someone when you're stuck in a car together for two hours." 

Yeah, not going to be a problem for Mary. 

"You want to talk about it?" 

"No." But Kitty took the implied invitation and rested her head on Mary's shoulder for a second. "God. What's wrong with me? And why does he always take me back?" 

Mary had a _lot_ of thoughts about _that_ , but she had learned from painful experience that people didn't take it well when you answered a question like that with a summary of the twenty psychology youtube videos you watched last week. So instead she said, "Have you ever tried couples counselling?" 

Kitty snorted. "Yeah, like that suggestion would go over well." 

Mary thought it might, actually, and indeed that both Kitty and Dan would benefit from therapy together and individually, which was why she'd also slipped a card for telephone counselling services into Dan's coat pocket after the last time he and Kitty had broken up. Didn't sound like he'd raised it with Kitty though. 

"Anyway." Kitty straightened up and stepped back. "I'd better get to the kitchen. I'm sticking around for dinner and Newfie New Year but once you guys go to bed I'm going out to a New Years party in town." 

"Have fun." 

Kitty made a face and retreated to the kitchen. 

When Mary finally made it to her bedroom to change for dinner, she found Lydia lying on the bed frowning at a magazine. With extra guests in the house, Lydia was bunking in with Mary over the holiday.

As a kid, Lydia had been a restless sleeper, rolling over and kicking and even talking in her sleep; but as an adult she slept like a log, other than her tendency to try to cuddle into any available heat source. Mary found she didn't mind. It was kind of cute, actually. 

"Hey," said Mary. 

"Uh-huh," said Lydia, not looking up from the magazine. 

Impulsively, Mary came over to throw her arms around her baby sister in an awkward side hug. Lydia dropped the magazine. 

"Ew, what's that for? God, Mary." 

But she hugged back. 

It was nice, Mary reflected over the noise of the New Year's Eve dinner, to have everyone under the same roof for a bit. She hadn't realized how lucky they had all been, living in town and seeing each other daily or at least weekly, until Lydia and then Leo had moved away. 

As the others settled in front of the tv, she pulled out her phone.

...and a few minutes later, beeps and dings were heard across the living room. 

"What--" 

"Oh my god Mary, you're such a weirdo!" 

"Why have I been added to a group called 'B fam'?"

That was Darcy. Well, she was close enough to family now, wasn't she? 

Mary shrugged. "I thought it was time. Now that we're a bit scattered and not all here for Sunday dinners anymore--so I made a family group chat. No big deal." 

"Just us though, right?" said Kitty, peering anxiously at her phone. 

"The siblings. Plus Chuck and Darcy as honourary family members. I didn't want to have to explain group chat to Mom and Dad." And she'd add Dan when he and Kitty eventually got back together. 

Mary's phone chimed and she glanced down to see that John had sent the first message--a gif of two teddy bears hugging. She grinned. 

_This way we can all be in each other's pockets even if we aren't in each other's faces,_ she wrote. 

_WEIRDO_ , said Lydia. 

Isn't technology great? 

Chuck sent a string of different-coloured heart emojis, and everyone laughed. 

On the tv, Dad had found a channel out of St. John's, Newfoundland, and Mom was bringing mugs of hot apple cider out from the kitchen. They'd stay up for the Newfie New Year, at 10:30pm Eastern, and then everyone who had to get up and milk cows tomorrow morning would head to bed.

It was a family tradition, and she was here with her whole family, and thanks to the magic of telecommunications they could be together even when they weren't physically together. 

Tidings of comfort and joy, indeed.


	7. New Year's Day (Leo)

Leo leaned a shoulder against the doorframe of his old bedroom and enjoyed the view of his girlfriend's butt up in the air as she reached down into the suitcase on the floor. 

"Are you wearing my hoodie?" he asked when she straightened up. 

It was more of a rhetorical question. For one thing, the hoodie Darcy was wearing was too big in the shoulder, the sleeves going down far past her finger tips. For another, to Leo's knowledge Darcy only owned one hoodie, made of sustainably grown and harvested bamboo fleece, and this was not it. 

Also, the hoodie had the logo of Leo's alma mater emblazoned on the front. 

Darcy raised an eyebrow. "Why, are you going to fight me for it?" 

Obviously not. It was cheesy as hell but something inside him got all warm and mushy every time she wore his clothes. "I just have no idea where you found it." 

"Last night I spilled mulled wine on the warmest sweater I brought with me," Darcy said, turning back to the suitcase. "Didn't make sense to wash it since we're leaving tomorrow. So, today, I got cold, and I found this in the back of the closet." 

"Well, I think bright yellow is your colour." When she rolled her eyes at him, he couldn't stop a grin. "Done packing?" 

"Almost. It's been a nice holiday, but I have to admit I'm looking forward to getting home and having some peace and quiet." 

"Me too," he said fervently. And he meant it. It turned out that he loved his family a lot more when he lived a few hours away and only visited for a week at a time, than he did when they were all trapped in a house together. "Here, I made you some of your fancy tea." 

Darcy took the mug and brought it to her face for a long inhale. "Thank you." 

"Probably the fanciest tea Longbourn has ever seen." The Bennets weren't exactly tea people. Maybe there was a box of Red Rose or Tetley tucked away somewhere. But it turned out that Darcy liked a nice (and very expensive) cup of tea on a cold day, and so Leo had learned how to make tea. 

"It's not fancy tea, it's just good tea." She sat down on the bed and quirked an eyebrow at him. "Why, did someone make a comment?" 

There had been lots of little comments when he'd told the family he was dating Darcy, after how stuck-up they'd all thought she was. And she was a little stuck-up sometimes, but now Leo found it endearing. His family did not. But the comments had mostly petered out now that they knew Darcy a little better (and his mother had gotten all her snark out of her system and decided to hope for grandbabies instead). 

"Nope. 'All is quiet on new years day...'"

"Is it?" Darcy's question was skeptical. 

For good reason. Downstairs, Mary was in the family room berating hockey officials on tv and Lydia was in the kitchen bickering with their mother. Chuck's enthusiastic monologue about what colours and patterns he was envisaging for the basement apartment drifted up the stairs, and Kitty and Dan were fighting in the garage where they probably thought no one could hear them. 

"As quiet as it ever gets around here. Mostly, it's the only song I could think of about new year's day. Lots of songs about New Year's Eve, but not many about the day itself." 

"Probably because most people stay up past midnight and then sleep most of New Year's Day away. I think Taylor Swift has a song." 

"You're right! 'I'll be cleaning up bottles with you on New Year's Day...' I can't think of any others though," he admitted, sitting down on the bed and wrapping an arm around her. 

"The French version of Jingle Bells?" 

"Really? Why do you know the French version of Jingle Bells?" 

She nuzzled into his shoulder. "I was in French Immersion in elementary school. We sang French Christmas carols during our holiday assembly. Don't ask me to remember them now, though, I only know bits and pieces." 

Six months together, and he was still learning new things about her all the time. Six months together, and he still felt like the luckiest guy on the planet every time he got to touch her. 

"Sounds like a challenge for next Christmas," he said, and knowing they'd have a next Christmas together, and a next, and a next, that this woman by some miracle wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, brought a warmth to his chest, a smile to his face. 

Darcy narrowed her eyes. "Are you about to get sappy on me?" But she sounded more amused than anything. 

"No!" He wasn't. Leo was never sappy out loud. Well, rarely. 

"Then are you going to sing again?" 

She said it like it was basically the same thing, which it wasn't. Although right now he had a Shania Twain song in his head that she'd definitely call sappy, so he couldn't sing that or she'd think she was always right. 

_'Cause I'm keeping you_

_Forever and for always_

_We will be together all of our days..._

"Are you singing or not?"

He leapt to his feet and held a hand out to her. "Only if you dance with me."

With an amused look, Darcy put down her mug and let him pull her to her feet and into his arms. He danced her around the room a few times without music while she laughed.

"Well? What's the song, Mr. Music Man?"

He twirled her.

"'We're here for a good time, not a long time, so have a good time, the sun don't shine every day.'"

She twirled back into his arms, smiling. He'd hit his groove now.

"'And the sun is shining in this rainy city'..."

When he finished the song they collapsed onto the bed in a tangle of arms and legs, breathless and giddy. Leo pushed a strand of hair out of Darcy's face so he could kiss her.

"I love you." It was a whisper against her skin.

Her voice still had laughter in it. "I though you weren't going to get sappy." 

"That wasn't sappy. You want sappy?" 

"Please." 

God, but he loved this woman. "Hold that thought," he said, getting up to close the door and push her packed suitcase in front of it for good measure. 

Her eyes were bright, sparkling when he turned back around to face the bed. 

"Just think. This time tomorrow we'll be back at home, the two of us with the house to ourselves." 

He paused to eye her. "Are you suggesting that this wait until tomorrow?" 

"God, no. I'm suggesting that tomorrow we do it again." 

"Now that's a suggestion I like." He climbed back on the bed and reached for her. "I think you should suggest it as often as possible." 

She rolled on top of him, cheeks flushed and eyes intent, feeling like a fantasy, looking like every dream he'd ever had. But she was real, and she was his. 

"I love you," she said, and he closed his eyes to savour the feeling that blossomed in his chest, still as strong as it had been the first time she'd said it. "Now be quiet and kiss me." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :D Thanks for reading this self-indulgent little bit of holiday fluff and hope you are all well and celebrating safely if you celebrate!
> 
> music in this episode...  
> New Year's Day - U2  
> New Year's Day - Taylor Swift  
> Forever and for Always - Shania Twain  
> We're Here for a Good Time - Trooper


End file.
